"Pictures of Percy: Suite for Soprano Saxophone & Piano" (2023), An Original Composition in the Style of Percy Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961) was a prolific Australian-American composer whose cutting-edge musical works ushered performers, conductors, and audiences into the modern era with little regard for their comfort zones. Some of his most important work was the research, collection, and arranging of folk songs, particularly British folk songs. Grainger often set these folk songs for wind band, an ensemble for which he was a strong proponent. His works for band were some of the earliest to include prominent saxophone parts and solos. He was a vocal proponent of the saxophone family and is an important figure in the history of the instrument. Despite Grainger's outspoken love for the saxophone, he never composed any original solo repertoire for the instrument. The new, original composition Pictures of Percy: Suite for Soprano Saxophone and Piano (2023) was crafted in an effort to remediate this void within the saxophone repertory. The work includes new arrangements of Grainger's compositions as well original music. The work is intended to add some semblance of Grainger's compositional voice to the saxophone literature while also paying homage to his passion for the saxophone family and his influence on its history.